Vera Skoronel | |
---|---|
![]() (by anonymous) in costume, early 1920s | |
Born | Vera Laemmel 28 May 1906 Zürich, Switzerland |
Died | 24 March 1932 Berlin, Germany | (aged 25)
Nationality | German |
Occupation(s) | Dancer, dance educator, choreographer |
Years active | 1924-1932 |
Parent |
|
Relatives |
Pavel Axelrod (grandfather) Isaac Kaminer (great-grandfather) |
Vera Skoronel (28 May 1906 – 24 March 1932), born Vera Laemmel, was a Swiss-born German dancer and choreographer. [1]
Vera Laemmel was born in Zürich, the daughter of Vienna-born scientist Rudolf Lämmel (1879–1962) and Sofia (Sonja) Axelrod (1881–1917). [2] Her maternal grandfather was Russian revolutionary Pavel Axelrod, and her great-grandfather was writer Isaac Kaminer. [3]
Skoronel (a name she chose for herself) trained as a dancer in Zürich with Suzanne Perrottet and Katja Wulff, and in Dresden with Mary Wigman. [4] At Wigman's school her fellow students included Gret Palucca, Hanya Holm, and Leni Riefenstahl. [5] [6]
In 1924, Skoronel became dance director for theatres in Oberhausen, Hamborn and Gladbeck. In the 1925-1926 season she was dance director at the theatre in Darmstadt. In 1926 she opened a school in Berlin with fellow modern dancer Berthe Trümpy (1895-1983). [3] [7] She was a proponent of the modern style known as "abstract dance", or Ausdruckstanz. [8] Her students included dancer Ludwig Lefebre, [9] music educator Hanna Berger, diver Ilse Meudtner, and Polish artist Oda Schottmüller. She also taught members of the Sara Mildred Strauss Dancers, from New York. [10] In 1930 she and her students attende the third German Dance Congress, in Munich. [11] "Perhaps no dancer of the Weimar era was as aggressive in the pursuit of an emphatically modernist group aesthetic as Vera Skoronel," according to dance historian Karl Eric Toepfer. [12] Illustrator G. R. Halkett described her as having "one face which could not be overlooked." [13]
Skoronel died in 1932, aged 25, in Berlin, from a blood disease, possibly complicated by alcohol abuse. [3] [14] Her grave is in the Wilmersdorf quarter of Berlin, and there is a small collection of her papers archived at Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln in Cologne.
Vera Skoronel | |
---|---|
![]() (by anonymous) in costume, early 1920s | |
Born | Vera Laemmel 28 May 1906 Zürich, Switzerland |
Died | 24 March 1932 Berlin, Germany | (aged 25)
Nationality | German |
Occupation(s) | Dancer, dance educator, choreographer |
Years active | 1924-1932 |
Parent |
|
Relatives |
Pavel Axelrod (grandfather) Isaac Kaminer (great-grandfather) |
Vera Skoronel (28 May 1906 – 24 March 1932), born Vera Laemmel, was a Swiss-born German dancer and choreographer. [1]
Vera Laemmel was born in Zürich, the daughter of Vienna-born scientist Rudolf Lämmel (1879–1962) and Sofia (Sonja) Axelrod (1881–1917). [2] Her maternal grandfather was Russian revolutionary Pavel Axelrod, and her great-grandfather was writer Isaac Kaminer. [3]
Skoronel (a name she chose for herself) trained as a dancer in Zürich with Suzanne Perrottet and Katja Wulff, and in Dresden with Mary Wigman. [4] At Wigman's school her fellow students included Gret Palucca, Hanya Holm, and Leni Riefenstahl. [5] [6]
In 1924, Skoronel became dance director for theatres in Oberhausen, Hamborn and Gladbeck. In the 1925-1926 season she was dance director at the theatre in Darmstadt. In 1926 she opened a school in Berlin with fellow modern dancer Berthe Trümpy (1895-1983). [3] [7] She was a proponent of the modern style known as "abstract dance", or Ausdruckstanz. [8] Her students included dancer Ludwig Lefebre, [9] music educator Hanna Berger, diver Ilse Meudtner, and Polish artist Oda Schottmüller. She also taught members of the Sara Mildred Strauss Dancers, from New York. [10] In 1930 she and her students attende the third German Dance Congress, in Munich. [11] "Perhaps no dancer of the Weimar era was as aggressive in the pursuit of an emphatically modernist group aesthetic as Vera Skoronel," according to dance historian Karl Eric Toepfer. [12] Illustrator G. R. Halkett described her as having "one face which could not be overlooked." [13]
Skoronel died in 1932, aged 25, in Berlin, from a blood disease, possibly complicated by alcohol abuse. [3] [14] Her grave is in the Wilmersdorf quarter of Berlin, and there is a small collection of her papers archived at Deutsches Tanzarchiv Köln in Cologne.